


The Ghost in the Machine

by HawkMoth



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: 50th Anniversary Special?, Gen, Season/Series 07, Spoilers for The Name of The Doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-19
Updated: 2013-05-19
Packaged: 2017-12-12 07:56:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/809161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkMoth/pseuds/HawkMoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So dark, so dark and deep, the secret that he keeps.</p>
<p>
  <i>A man is the sum of his memories, as Time Lord even more so.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ghost in the Machine

**Author's Note:**

> Comments greatly appreciated.

******

He doesn't remember.

He can't remember.

He won't remember.

He shouldn't remember.

He has to remember.

There are shadows everywhere throughout his lives. There is one life cloaked in shadows, soaked in blood, full of memories he should never share. The secret in the silence, the silence which echoes throughout Time and Space, the echoes that are echoed in sacrifice.

He falls backwards, ever backwards, down the spiral of his past. He sees her there, and there, and everywhere. She fell first, rippling across his lives. He relives each moment she crosses his path, the moments he never remembered. She fell, and fell apart, impossible splinters embedding in his psyche. Just like a ghost, one minute there and then gone. 

She is the impossible girl, the leaf on the wind of the Vortex, the voice calling to him in times of crisis. Doctor is his name, who he is, who he chose to be. She calls and he turns, away from danger, towards safety, down a road less traveled.

Light in the darkness. A guide. A savior. If she is lost, so is he. If she saves him, he must just once save her, no matter the cost.

And within lies the secret, at the very heart of his existence, the part of him that has no name, the thing soaked in the blood of a billion lives. The darkest shadow, the ghost he created and refused to acknowledge.

The ghost that even she can't save him from. The face she should never have seen. The face that haunts his dreams. The reason he's still running.

Where can they run now?

******

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, you are detecting heavy influence from Les Miserables. And a touch of Firefly. And whatever else was percolating in my head when this idea hit me, _minutes_ after seeing the episode.


End file.
